The second season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL ) started last weekend in Dakar , Senegal .
Twelve teams will compete this season for the BAL title .
Last year , Egypt's Zamalek won the championship .
The league was supposed to start in 2020 , but was delayed a year by the COVID-19 pandemic .
Last year , the season took place over two weeks in Kigali , Rwanda .
This year , the schedule runs over three months and 38 games .
They will be played in Dakar , Kigali and Cairo , Egypt .
The BAL is supported by America's National Basketball Association (NBA ) and FIBA , basketball's international governing body .
It is the first time the NBA has put money into a league outside of North America .
Victor Williams is NBA Africa's president .
At an event in Lagos , Nigeria , in February , he said the league is evidence of the NBA's interest in “growing the game across the continent .”
Sam Ahmedu is the president of FIBA Africa Zone 3 , which includes Nigeria , Africa's most populous nation .
He said the expanded number of games will permit more people to see games in person .
“It will help to popularize the game and attract more sponsorship ,” he said .
A sponsor is a well-known company that supports a sports organization with money .
The league announced in 2021 that Obama received part ownership of NBA Africa in return for his work .
Obama said any money he receives will go to his foundation's programs in Africa .
Dikembe Mutombo is a former NBA player from the Democratic Republic of Congo .
He invested money to help start the league .
There are about 50 NBA players with African roots .
The most famous are Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks , Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers and Pascal Siakam of the Toronto Raptors .
The league is hoping to help little-known players improve their game and get attention .
Last season , 15 scouts watched the league .
This year , each BAL team will have a young player from the NBA Academy Africa , a training center in Saly , Senegal , for teenage players .
The program will provide another pathway for good African players “to reach their potential as players and people ,” said Amadou Gallo Fall .
He is the BAL president .
One team leader , however , believes athletes should not only play to try to make the NBA , but to make the BAL a great league .
Regardless of whether the BAL becomes successful throughout Africa , one observer believes the new league will serve as a form of cultural exchange .
Scott Brooks is associate director of Arizona State University's Global Sport Institute .
He said when an American sport like basketball becomes more visible in a foreign country , it affects both cultures .
"It's not just American culture taking over .
We always get a piece of other cultures coming back ," he said .
"That's what really makes this exciting ."
Brooks said something like the BAL is more than basketball .
“It is building leaders in Africa ,” he said .
Those interested in following the BAL can hear VOA's broadcasts of the games on the radio in Africa .
VOA will cover the games in English , French , Portuguese and two African languages : Kinyarwanda and Wolof .